Original Homies Gang Tapes Gang Forum- Discuss Gangs in LA Download Gang Articles Trace Tupac's Murder Some Gangs Get Sued

Bullet Had His Name Newsday; 10/20/1992; Emily Sachar Newsday 10-20-1992 Bullet Had His Name By Emily Sachar. STAFF WRITER First came the note, slipped under his door: "The bullet has your name," it said in Spanish. Six days later, Jose Reyes, 67, was dead. His mistake: fighting to clear his Washington Heights apartment building of what police call one of the most vicious drug gangs in city history. This week, five reputed members of the gang that killed him - the Jheri Curls - go to trial on murder and drug charges in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Witnesses are expected to tell a tale of terrifying undercover police work, drug deals gone sour and disloyal gang underlings gunned-down execution-style, sources say. Evidence of six murders of gang members and rival drug dealers will be presented. But the murder at the heart of this case is Reyes', a retired City Welfare Administration worker who neighbors say fought the battle they were too frightened to fight - trying to get the Jheri Curls out of 614 W. 157th St. Reyes was shot to death May 23, 1991. "He was always out to help other people," said Dolores Dominguez, who has lived in the building longer than any other tenant. "He was scared by the gang in one way. But he was not scared. He wanted them out, and he was the only one among us who would take them on." Reyes had lived in apartment 5C since 1963. In his years at the once-elegant six-story building, Reyes gold-leafed the ornamental ceiling, installed mailboxes that lock, planted window boxes with geraniums and scrubbed the tile floors, Dominguez and others said. He wasn't the superintendent, but he took deep pride in the building, neighbors said, and found no job beneath him. Reyes never married; he lived with a male companion, neighbors said. He had few relatives in the city, just a sister with whom he was very close. Neighbors said they were not surprised that much of Reyes' life, especially after his retirement from the welfare administration, revolved around the neighborhood and the 44-unit building. A worker at a nearby donut shop said Reyes was a fixture at the store, sipping coffee and munching sugar donuts almost every morning. And despite the dense population of his stretch of Washington Heights, people blocks away knew him. "Oh yeah, the old man who wanted the drug dealers gone. He died for that," said Ramon Rincon, who lives four blocks away. In 1989, new faces began appearing at Reyes' building, tenants said. Five vacant apartments were quickly rented, and tenants noticed gold cars, now said by police to be signatures of the Jheri Curls, appearing in front of the building at all hours of the day and night. Many of the new tenants wore another signature, the spiked-hair Jheri Curl coiffure for which the gang was named. Eventually, incidents began. The tires of a longtime tenant's car were blown out without explanation one summer afternoon in 1989. Weeks later, the front door locks at the building disappeared. And several months after that, there was a bomb threat in the front hall elevator. Tenants also noticed packages of they were sure contained drugs appearing in hallways, on the rear building stoop and on the roof. "It scared all of us," Dominguez said. "But Jose was determined to do something." Early in 1991, the tenants held a meeting. Reyes agreed to call police. And within weeks, a round-up of drug gang members took place. As police took notes, Reyes, in front of gang members, identified people he had seen dispensing drugs. Sources close to the case say it was after that that Reyes began to work more closely with police. Life at 614 W. 157th St. got worse. A man believed to be a disgruntled gang member was shot to death in the lobby. The front door locks, replaced every few weeks, were removed again and again. "It was like open house here," Dominguez recalled. "The gang was the doorman of the building." Notes began appearing, threatening tenants with death, Dominguez said. Most moved out, but not Reyes. Some tenants stopped using their phones, fearing they were tapped, Dominguez said. And even now, with the gang cleared from the building and in jail awaiting trial, many tenants won't discuss it. "I was concerned because you never know what's going to happen," said Pauline Brown, another tenant. "But they were always polite to me." One May afternoon, as he counted his money outside the Apple Savings Bank between 158th and 159th Streets on Broadway, Reyes was shot once in the head from behind. The death threat had appeared on his doorstep a few days before. He was shot in broad daylight for all within sight on Broadway to see and hear. "They were sending a message with Mr. Reyes," Dominguez said. "Stay away or this is what will happen." Reyes wasn't the only bystander to be brutalized by the gang, according to prosecutor Fernando Camacho. A pregnant woman suspected of complaining to police was beaten into unconsciousness near the building, Camacho told State Supreme Court Justice Leslie Snyder last week. Camacho said he can't find the woman to call her in to testify. "She's got to be scared stiff," he said. Last week, prosecutors made last-minute petitions asking Snyder to allow testimony about other violent acts not named in the indictment: a $200-a-week Jheri Curls worker was shot in the eye for stealing from the gang; the gang leader's girlfriend was shot in the knee in 1989 for making fun of his limp; a worker suspected of disloyalty was killed on the George Washington Bridge in 1990. Within weeks of Reyes' killing, five undercover police officers were sent to penetrate the gang, prosecutors said. A year ago, 23 gang members were indicted. Since then, five have pleaded guilty; four remain fugitives; and nine more are at Rikers Island awaiting trial. More than 140 witnesses will be called at this trial of the remaining five. Those facing trial first - reputed gang leader Rafael Martinez, 25; his brothers, Caesar Martinez, 26, and Lorenzo Martinez, 20; Isadora Medina-DeLeon, 32; and Reyes' alleged killer, Roberto Gonzales, 29 - face maximum prison terms ranging from 38 1/3 years to life to 197 1/2 years to life, if convicted. News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

Copyright © Streetgangs.com, All RIGHTS RESERVED. Disclaimer
All trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.